Conservatives demand broadcasters 'stop censoring' IRS scandal news

A coalition of conservative leaders insist that liberal broadcasters have compromised coverage of the IRS matter that revealed the federal agency had singled out the tax status of certain conservative groups.

Radio host Rush Limbaugh, Citizens United president David Bossie, Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell have banded together to demand that ABC, CBS and NBC “stop censoring” news of the IRS.

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“The liberal media’s refusal to cover the IRS scandal - more than the NSA scandal, more than DOJ’s surveillance of journalists, more even than the tragic loss of life in Benghazi - cuts to the very heart of their corruption,” the five say in a joint statement.

“No fair, objective journalists can look at the facts of this flagrant abuse of power and not conclude that it is a massive political scandal deserving of constant, merciless scrutiny.”

Initially, coverage was decent, according to a Media Research Center analysis. The networks aired 96 stories on the IRS in the first two weeks, from May 10 through 23. By late June and July, only one 90-second story aired on CBS, though “multiple new IRS scandals emerged to feed the news cycle,” the five point out, citing $70 million in bonuses to IRS agents, insider contracts and credit cards abuse.

A congressional hearing also found that the IRS chief counsel’s office “appears to have been directly involved in the IRS’s scheme to target tea party and conservative groups. This shatters the story that this was a scandal orchestrated by two IRS agents in Cincinnati,” the conservatives conclude.